Caregiver Insights: Senior In Home Care

Do You Know What to Do If Your Patient is Having a Seizure?

3 Things about Epilepsy that Every Caregiver Should Know near Roseville, CA

Epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder that affects millions of people around the world. For some individuals, epilepsy begins shortly after birth or sometime during childhood. For others, it could be the result of an accident or significant head injury. For elderly individuals, it can also begin as a result of a stroke or other health crisis.

For the caregiver who is working with a patient diagnosed with epilepsy, there are a few things that are important to know. An experienced caregiver will likely know these things already, but for somebody who is caring for a loved one, they may not have this information on hand.

Certain medications can help.

A person who has seizures on a regular basis will likely have seen a neurologist at some point in time. They may or may not have been prescribed various medications to help try and alleviate those seizures. Not all of the medication is going to work.

Neurontin is one of the more common forms of seizure medications and it may take several different dosages to try to figure out which one works best for the patient. However, over time, with each seizure the patient has, the medication is likely going to be less and less effective at preventing a future seizure.

Seizures can cause brain damage.

Each time a person has a seizure, it is the result of a neurological synapse misfiring. When a seizure occurs, there is always potential for permanent brain damage. The brain damage may be unnoticeable at the time, but as the seizures continue, you may notice that behaviors begin to change.

That may require you, as a caregiver, to make adjustments in the type of care you provide.

Do not hold a person down when they are having a seizure.

It was common practice to teach people to restrain a patient who was having a seizure. Today, it is your job as a caregiver to make sure they are safe and to allow the seizure to run its course.

Making sure they are safe means helping them to the ground in a safe way, rather than allowing them to just fall. You also want to make sure they cannot choke on their own tongue. That means it may be best to turn their head to the side to prevent this from happening.

Other than that, you have to wait for the seizure to run its course and if you feel that it is necessary, contact emergency services for assistance.

If you have an aging loved one who needs professional elderly care, or are considering hiring caregiving services for yourself call Harmony Home Care and talk to our care staff. They will be attentive to your situation, and provide clear and immediate options to help you deal with the difficulties you face. Harmony Home Care provides services for the greater Sacramento, Placer, and El Dorado Counties including: Sacramento, El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Granite Bay, Roseville, Cameron Park, Placerville and surrounding areas. For more information and a FREE assessment CALL (916) 414-9100.